Business.com |
- How to Attract Customers to Your Restaurant
- How Desktop as a Service Will Revolutionize Business
- 3 Ways to Boost Client Referrals
- How to Do Payroll
- How To Collect Quality Feedback From Your Customers
| How to Attract Customers to Your Restaurant Posted: 02 Oct 2019 10:00 AM PDT  The food industry is continuously growing, which means the competition can be cutthroat. In this article, we explore different marketing strategies you can use to boost your restaurant revenue and maintain a steady cash flow. It doesn't matter if you're new to this business or have been operating a restaurant for years. There are three things you need to do to keep your business going: attract new customers, retain existing customers and provide impeccable service. To do this, you need to use online and offline marketing strategies; serving the best food in the world is not enough to make people come knocking on your door. Restaurant marketing has dramatically changed over the years, and some effective strategies can be expensive. Although implementing your offline and online marketing strategies can cost more than you intend to spend, every penny will be worth it, so don't be afraid of making this investment. Consider small business funding to cover the costs. Following are several tips and strategies that you can use to increase your sales. Online marketing strategies for restaurants1. Take amazing photos of your restaurant's food.With so many restaurants to choose from, people take their time finding the restaurant that will satisfy their taste buds. What could be a better way to capture their attention than by posting vibrant, great-looking images of your restaurant's food? As they say, a picture is worth a thousand words, so it's really worth investing in a good camera. Or, you can hire a professional photographer if you're less confident about your photography skills. Only use high-quality images for your website, mobile apps and social media pages. 2. Create a simple, yet highly-functional website.You don't need a fancy website with flashy images, moving parts and background music (they don't usually work on mobile devices anyway). What you need is a simple, straightforward website that contains all the information that customers need to purchase your food products or make a reservation. The best restaurant website is one that contains your menu, contact information, location, operating hours and other relevant information. Editor's note: Need online marketing services for your business? Fill out the below questionnaire to have our vendor partners contact you with free information. 3. Blog about your restaurant.Adding a blog to your restaurant website is a powerful search engine optimization strategy that could lead new customers to your business. Your blog entries could give your readers a peek at your kitchen, ideas for how they can save money on their next restaurant visit, tips for pairing food with wine, a delicious recipe that anyone can try on Thanksgiving, etc. Here are more blog post ideas to add value and boost traffic on your restaurant website:
4. Go social.A lot of people rely on social media to find recommendations, search for local businesses and compare brands. Social media is a great place to promote your restaurant because it's where people are most of the time. Being on social media gives you a chance to interact with your customers, attract new ones by posting photos and content, and promote your restaurant business for free. Social media marketing should be a part of your overall marketing strategy. 5. Go mobile.Make sure that your website, marketing emails and social media content are accessible from a mobile device. It's no secret that most people browse websites from their phones. No matter how much effort you put in your restaurant website, if it isn't optimized for mobile devices, you're less likely to generate leads. Invest in a website that looks great and functions well from a mobile device, not just from a desktop computer. 6. Sign up for Google My Business.If you don't have a website yet, or even if you have, signing up for Google My Business has so many advantages for your restaurant. It makes it easy for customers to find your store location, you obtain better search visibility, you can connect with your customers through Google Hangouts and you gain access to a wealth of analytics. Best of all – it's free! Offline marketing strategies for restaurants1. Expand your customer base.Even a simple change in your target demographics can help increase your revenue. For example, if the majority of your customers are low-income earners, consider creating a campaign to target high-paying customers. This could mean sprucing up your restaurant or adding a special dish to your menu. 2. Encourage more spend.When your tables are filled, upselling can take your revenues to the next level. However, you don't want to annoy your customers with persistent attempts to upsell and discourage them from dining at your restaurant again. So, before you consider the following strategies, make sure your staff is well-trained.
3. Delight your guests with live music.Everyone loves a little entertainment while enjoying good food. Scheduling live music is a great way to attract customers. You could have live music in your restaurant every Friday or during weekends, for instance. 4. Run promotions.Try running a promotion to increase traffic during slow times. For example, you could offer a free meal for every company of five on days when you have the least number of customers, offer free drinks every Friday night, or provide a free dessert for customers celebrating their birthdays at your restaurant. 5. Don't forget about loyalty programs.It is way more expensive to attract new customers than to retain existing ones, so make sure you reward your valued customers for patronizing your business. Loyalty programs don't just boost engagement and make customers happy. Restaurant loyalty programs also have great potential for driving repeat sales. Here are some tips for a successful loyalty marketing program:
6. Dare to be different.With so many restaurants out there offering the same product and experience, why should people choose you? There are over a million restaurants in the U.S. right now. To stay competitive, you need to create your own mark on the industry. Find something unique and special about your restaurant and highlight that in your marketing – it's a way for people to recognize and remember your business. 7. Stay current with industry trends.Keep up with the latest trends in the restaurant industry. Here are some of the trends that are expected to leave an impression on the industry in 2020:
ConclusionWith hundreds of restaurants entering the market each year, the competition has never been tougher. To ensure more cash in your register, it is important to create a marketing strategy that will attract more customers, retain existing ones, and provide quality service. Increasing your sales is easy if you combine online and offline marketing techniques. Start by taking high-quality photos of your menu, creating a professional website, adding useful content like blog posts to increase your web traffic and promoting your business on social media. Be sure to keep your website mobile-friendly and sign up to Google My Business to reach more customers. Other ways to increase your restaurant revenue include targeting a new demographic, upselling, providing entertainment, offering a loyalty program, and providing a unique product or experience that customers will be excited about. |
| How Desktop as a Service Will Revolutionize Business Posted: 02 Oct 2019 08:00 AM PDT  Desktop as a service (DaaS) is still new to most people, even those savvy IT-gurus who like to keep an eye out for the next big thing. But, as time goes on it will increasingly become an important facet of the modern economy that few businesses will be able to get by without. DaaS is going to change the way we conduct business by lowering the costs associated with harnessing digital technologies for commercial purposes, making it easier for employees to collaborate, and by securing data in an era where privacy and information security is of the utmost importance. Here's how DaaS will revolutionize business as we know it, and what to expect going forward. Say hello to virtual desktop infrastructureIt can be difficult for some to grasp the concept of DaaS, but the truth of the matter is that it's not too complicated once you understand the basic principles behind it. Virtual desktop infrastructure was once thought impossible, later thought too expensive, and is now finally being recognized as a viable tool that businesses can leverage because of advancements in cloud technology. DaaS is sometimes called "hosted desktop services," because it effectively relies on allowing someone else to manage the storage and security of your valuable data and useful applications. Amazon and Citrix have already made names for themselves as capable DaaS providers, but more players are likely to emerge on the competitive stage sooner rather than later, especially since DaaS is becoming more popular as time goes on. Perhaps the chief reason that many businesses are embracing DaaS in lieu of traditional setups is that it enables them to outsource security to a competent, capable third party rather than invest hefty resources in a tech-dense area that they are likely deeply unfamiliar with. In the future, rather than owning your equipment, businesses and individuals alike will effectively "rent" desktop services by the month, selectively choosing which features they need. Microsoft's work in this area could lead us to say goodbye to PCs as we know them, but there are many doom and gloom predictions surrounding DaaS that fail to capture the true commercial potential of this innovation. When companies like Ekran System and others finally master DaaS and digital security, they'll actually improve the user experience of most people, while earning a tidy profit. Local machines are outdatedOne of the reasons that DaaS will revolutionize business is that it's already proving that local machines are outdated and unnecessary. Rather than storing information and crucial data on a local machine, which could be compromised, stolen or simply fall into disrepair due to office neglect, DaaS will permit businesses to store sensitive information safely at an offsite location. This will be very helpful when it comes to fighting data breaches, which is a growing problem that seriously threatens the profitability of many businesses that have grown immensely dependent on data and digital technology. DaaS will also continue to become more popular as it permits companies to remain cost-effective as they attempt to further digitize their operations. Currently, many small businesses haven't been able to embrace the digital revolution to the greatest extent possible, largely because they lack the needed capital to expand. Given that DaaS works from most computers, however, it will permit businesses to enjoy very elaborate digital services without having to spend huge sums of money on expensive hardware, which employees may not make excellent use of. It doesn't stop there, either. DaaS will permit businesses to spend less time managing and growing their digital infrastructure, as this is effectively outsourced to somebody else whenever you rely on DaaS. Take a look at how DaaS is changing the future of work, and you'll see that more CEOs will be instructing their CIOs to embrace the DaaS revolution as a way of rendering technological infrastructure issues a thing of the past. This could lead to greater network security across the board, too, meaning companies won't just be saving money but will also be ensuring their valuable data doesn't fall into the wrong hands. The "as-a-service" model will become commonplaceTech-savvy professionals will already be familiar with "software-as-a-service," or SaaS. The rise of DaaS will similarly propel the "as-a-service" model further upwards, especially if major companies like Microsoft continue to pioneer the technology needed to make it an affordable reality across the marketplace. This means that the cloud market will remain vibrant for the foreseeable future, as DaaS and other "as-a-service" businesses will heavily depend on robust cloud support to make up for the replacement of local machines. This focus on the cloud will appeal to employers, who can use terms like "greater flexibility" when describing the extent to which DaaS frees up their employees. Rather than having to rely on local company machines which may be inaccessible if the office is closed, for instance, future workers will be able to plug their devices into the company network and gain access to the important data they need to make crucial decisions. Understanding DaaS's relationship with the cloud is essential if you want to truly understand the ongoing revolution that's occurring before our very eyes. Still, pivoting to DaaS immediately isn't easy, and businesses will need to know how to embrace DaaS properly if they don't want to waste their money on a flashy IT investment that produces shoddy results. Factors to consider before you pivot to DaaSIf you're interested in embracing the DaaS revolution, consider some important things before finalizing your decision. You should ask yourself how well you can integrate the DaaS model into your existing company infrastructure, for instance, as this could be a disruptive move that frustrates some employees. As long as all workers are technologically literate and well-trained, however, they should soon embrace the DaaS model and the flexibility it delivers to them. Given that DaaS depends on a robust internet connection to work, it may prove untenable for businesses with workers or a large consumer base in areas with shoddy IT infrastructure. Rural areas, for instance, may continue to be left behind when it comes to the adoption of the latest tech as far as DaaS is concerned. Users and employees who need access to huge sums of data or many files will also be entirely dependent upon their service provider for that access; if the network goes down, they may be locked out and incapable of doing anything meaningful. There are many benefits to keep in mind, too, especially the fact that DaaS ensures you don't have to fret about a data breach should an employee lose a company device that they were working with. Given that DaaS provides services without hosting data on local machines, this will prove to be one of the biggest improvements to IT security to hit small companies in some time. Ultimately, however, any successful embrace of DaaS will take a team of tech-savvy leaders capable of explaining this technology to others, as we can be hesitant to embrace the unknown even if it offers improvements to our lives. DaaS is already shaking up the marketplace, and we can expect more and more businesses to adopt this model in order to better protect their data and remain flexible in a competitive market. |
| 3 Ways to Boost Client Referrals Posted: 02 Oct 2019 06:00 AM PDT  Just because you're a small business owner doesn't mean that you love sales or comfortable having to ask a customer for anything. This is almost always particularly true when it comes to asking them to take time out of their day to do something that seems to solely benefit you, like write a review of your business. In fact, you might feel awkward, or downright uncomfortable at the thought of it. You may even worry it could damage your customer experience or alienate them from becoming a repeat, long-term customer. These fears are understandable, and also very common among entrepreneurs. But if you're not asking customers to write reviews and give you referrals, you might be missing out on a lot of potential. You can reach new customers and grow your revenue simply by prompting your current customer base to help you out. And yes, this means asking for client referrals. Before you dismiss the idea, consider these stats we discovered in a recent research study of more than 3,000 qualified consumers:
These statistics make it clear that referrals are powerful, trusted and used often. If people already are in the habit of referring their friends and family members to businesses they believe in, why shouldn't yours be among them? If you still need more convincing, consider that 84 percent of people surveyed in 58 different countries by Nielsen said they trust recommendations from people they know. All it may take is a quick referral from one of your current customers to start a domino effect of customer acquisition and business growth. So, yes. You need client referrals to grow your business. But there are three ways to make this an easier and more rewarding process than you might think it is. 1. Make the right ask to the right people.When you don't know how to ask for a referral from a client, you might just blurt out, "will you recommend me to your friends?" to the next client you see. There's nothing particularly wrong about that, but it leaves the whole process very open-ended. The client could respond with a well-intentioned "yes" but quickly move on with their day and never end up doing anything about it. Or the entire encounter might seem a little forced, or awkward, and the dynamic with your customer can end up shifting in a negative way. So, what should you do instead? First, remember that the more strategic you can be about client referrals, the more you'll get out of them. Instead of haphazardly asking customers to refer you, and lacking a clear follow-up plan to help them do that, use client management software to identify the right people to ask. The best way to do this is to set up an automated, one-question survey that will go to a customer a few days or a week after you've completed your service for them. We like the Net Promoter Score (NPS) system, which uses one very simple question: "How likely is it that you would recommend [your business name] to a friend or colleague?" All the customer has to do is select a number on a scale from one to 10. It takes them very little time while giving you a good deal of actionable information. If you want to make it even quicker for them, you can instead give them the choices of "likely" or "not likely" and gather data that way instead. You'll also want to set up automated responses to go to customers once they submit their feedback. For instance, anyone who scores in the eight to 10 range should get an email asking if they will refer you to a friend or family member, and/or leave you an online review. This ensures that the people you ask to write reviews or make referrals are those who like you and liked your services, and therefore should be happy to pay you a favor in return. The respondents who score in the four to seven range should get an email containing some more information about your company and how you can help them. These middle-of-the-road folks could end up patronizing your business again, but could just as easily forget about you. So you must stay on their radar and make sure you clearly relay your value. And lastly, the ones who score in the bottom range should be contacted directly by someone in customer service so you can find out how to improve their customer experience. This step might just prevent a customer from leaving a bad review on your website, or from giving up on ever using your company again. 2. Sweeten the deal.Many people, especially your most satisfied customers, will be happy to refer you to their friends and family members simply because you ask. But some will need a little extra motivation to do so. After all, Software Advice found that 39 percent of the people they surveyed said that a financial incentive would make them "much more likely" to refer someone to a brand they love. You can offer incentives in a variety of ways. Some companies like to send a small gift card to anyone who gives them a referral, while others prefer to offer a discount for their next service. You could also enter clients who gave you referrals into a giveaway for a really valuable gift. Just make sure the terms of your incentivizing are very clear. Also, be sure to use this as a way to say "thank you" to your customers, rather than as a way to bribe them for a referral. 3. Make the referring customer look good.Even if a customer loves your services and your company, they might be hesitant to refer a family member or friend. Sometimes people fear that their loved one may have a different customer experience than they did, and sour on your brand as a result, which would reflect poorly on their recommendation. Or if your services are high quality, but also fairly expensive, customers may worry their loved one will end up spending more than they should and regretting their decision to follow their recommendation. In order to encourage your customers to make those referrals, and quell their concerns, include some verbiage about your treatment of new clients when you ask for a referral. Maybe you throw in an extra service at no charge for every new customer who was referred by an existing customer, or perhaps they get 10 percent off their first appointment. Then, make sure to follow through. The new customer who was referred to you should be treated with the utmost professionalism and care, and the referring customer should be made to feel really good for connecting their loved one with your brand. |
| Posted: 02 Oct 2019 05:30 AM PDT 
If you run a business, you have to pay your employees. It's that simple. How you decide to pay them, however, is more complicated. There are seemingly endless payroll solutions out there for all types of small businesses. From comprehensive solutions like QuickBooks to at-home payroll providers like Sure Payroll, it's hard to figure out what's right for your business. On top of all of this, if you employ only a few people, it may be worth it to work payroll out on your own. Processing payroll by yourself can be difficult, and if it's something you're doing for the first time, it's crucial that you consult with an expert before you get started. The challenge with processing your own payroll comes with what you may miss – if there are deductions or tax-related issues that you file incorrectly, you can expose your business to serious liability. However, processing payroll can still be done manually by small business owners. Why do you need a payroll system?The most obvious reason is because you need to pay people who work for your company. It's easy to pay employees once a job is completed, but having a proper system in place mitigates risk and vastly improves your business operations. It may sound counterintuitive, but payroll systems aren't just about paying employees. Payroll processing is a detailed documentation system that tracks who is working for your company, how long they've worked for you and how much money you're spending on labor. Terms like "payroll processing" and "payroll system" can make this sound complicated, but it's actually quite simple. If you work with a payroll provider, your "system" will be automatically set up through the company. If you're on your own, you'll have to set up your own system. Keep in mind the point of this system is documentation. Here's a list of things your payroll system should do:
Editor's note: Looking for the right online payroll service for your business? Fill out the below questionnaire to have our vendor partners contact you about your needs. How to create your own payroll systemBefore diving into how to do payroll yourself, it's important to review the overall process. Creating a payroll system with steps to follow is all about organization and planning. Once your system is set up, information and documentation will flow through it, and you'll be able to report on important business aspects. As you plan your payroll system and decide how you want to structure employee payments, keep this roadmap in mind:
This is a general roadmap that encapsulates both your payroll system and how to process payroll. If you've created a system that addresses all these needs in an organized fashion, you're on your way to handling payroll successfully. How to do payroll: 8 easy stepsStep 1: Find your employer identification numberYour first step is to set up an EIN with the IRS. This number is issued so the IRS can identify your business. If you're a new business, you'll have to apply for an EIN. Applying is free, and you can apply online, by fax, mail or by phone. On the IRS' website, you can read about how to apply for an EIN and learn more about the EIN program and process. You'll also need to check with your state and local (city and/or county) for those tax ID numbers. Step 2: Collect employee tax informationOnce you have your EIN, you need to collect relevant tax information from your employees. This means having all employees fill out a W-4 and an I-9. If you have contract workers or freelance staff, you'll have to collect 1099s. On these forms, employees provide important legal information about their work status, elect to take out certain deductions and fill out other important information. You can't process payroll without the details provided on these forms. There are laws around when you have to submit this paperwork to the IRS, but that will vary based on the information your employees provide. You can read more about submitting W-2s and I-9s to determine what's required of your business. 1099s also have a different set of rules on how they're prepared and submitted to both the IRS and your employees. Step 3: Choose a payroll scheduleOnce you've established all the relevant tax information for your business and its employees, you have to decide on how you want to pay your workers. There are four different types of pay schedules; weekly, biweekly, semiweekly and monthly. All four schedules have their advantages. Most companies opt for either a biweekly or semimonthly pay period depending on how they want to approach their yearly schedules. Step 4: Calculate gross payCalculating gross pay is the first step toward processing payroll on your own. Calculating it is simple: Gross pay is the number of hours an employee has worked in a given pay period multiplied by their hourly rate. The easiest way to track employee hours is via a spreadsheet. Once you have the total hours per pay period, multiply that by the employee's hourly rate, and you'll have that specific employee's gross pay. Keep in mind that all the steps discussed here need to be completed for each individual employee in your company. Here's a quick example: An employee has worked 85 hours in your biweekly pay period and is paid $10 per hour. Your pay period this time around is 80 hours.
Step 5: Determine deductions, allowances and other withholdingsOne of the most important steps to processing payroll is determining each employee's deductions and allowances. As a quick refresher, exemptions and allowances are the same thing, and they refer to how much money that's taken out of your paycheck during the year. Allowances are specified on a W-4. Deductions, on the other hand, are specified by the employee on a 1040EZ form, and these refer to things you can deduct from your income when you do your taxes. This is where you have to pay close attention to how your employees fill out their tax-related forms and make the proper withholdings. On top of deductions and exemptions, it's important to factor in other aspects of payroll processing and withholdings from each paycheck. Depending on your business's situation, you may have to consider the following:
Step 6: Calculate net pay and pay your employeesAfter tallying the deductions, allowances and other taxes, subtract what's being withheld from each employee's gross pay. The resulting number is net pay.
Net pay is what each employee is paid out at the end of each pay period. This is also known as take-home pay. Make sure you create a pay stub for each employee and track what you're withholding. Tracking payment and maintaining the right records benefit your business in the long run. It also helps you keep track of how an employee is progressing at your company. Once net pay is calculated for each employee, pay each employee, if you can, using their preferred delivery method. Payroll is a big expense for businesses, and while using a payroll solution costs money, it can cut down on the amount of time required to handle all these steps. It also means that your employees can receive their paychecks in a variety of forms, including checks, direct deposits and money cards. Step 7: Keep payroll records and adjust to fix mistakesMaintaining honest and organized payroll records are essential to any solid payroll system. You want to be able to reference your records if there's ever a discrepancy between an employee's net pay and what they expected to receive. It's also important from a tax perspective to have these records on hand in case you have to work with the IRS. Mistakes happen, but as long as you correct them quickly and honestly, you'll be able to move forward. Record-keeping is also essential for any payroll taxes you have to pay out on a regular basis. Step 8: Withhold, report and pay payroll taxesPart of processing your own payroll is calculating payroll taxes that have to be withheld from employee paychecks. This includes Federal Unemployment Tax (FUTA), State Unemployment Tax Act (SUTA), State Unemployment Insurance (SUI) and Federal Insurance Contributions Act (FICA). You may also be responsible for reporting income tax, Social Security and Medicare taxes. These are all important aspects of processing your own payroll. Luckily, there are online calculators where you can crunch FUTA, FICA, SUTA and SUI numbers. Make sure you check on when you have to issue payroll tax payments in coherence with your state laws. It's also important to keep in mind that you'll have to report any new hires to the IRS, and file your federal business taxes on a quarterly and annual basis. Payroll checklist: What you need to process payrollWith a roadmap to follow and an overview of the important steps involved, it's also important to understand exactly what you need from each employee to process payroll. Payroll is complicated, and it's easy to get lost in the details of how everything works. Follow the checklist below as an overview of the information you should gather before you start processing each pay period's payroll. Tax information
Employee information
Record-keeping system
How to do payroll in ExcelProcessing payroll in Excel may be easier than you think. Many small business owners use Excel to track budgets and other financial information, and it's a useful tool for processing payroll as well. The first step toward processing payroll in Excel is to download Microsoft's payroll calculator template. This template, which is free from Microsoft, has everything you need to process payroll. You can enter employee information under the "employee information tab" on the bottom left of the worksheet. This asks for information like hourly wage, tax status, federal allowances (from W-4), state tax, federal income tax, Social Security tax, Medicare tax, insurance deductions and other regular deductions. All the information can be easily added in one place, and the math is set up automatically in Excel. Once you have all your employees' information in the spreadsheet, move over to the "payroll calculator tab." Here, you can enter all the hours worked in the specific pay period. This includes regular hours worked, vacation hours, sick hours, overtime hours and overtime wage. As you enter the information, your employee's net pay will be automatically calculated. This takes all the major legwork out of calculating payroll. Once it's "processed," you can create individual pay stubs using the next tab of the paysheet. This will allow you to track how much each employee is paid each pay period. How to set up payroll in QuickBooksQuickBooks provides a full payroll suite that you can add to your services. Should you add this aspect to your QuickBooks accounting program, there are some easy steps you can follow to process payroll in QuickBooks and manage your financial information in one place. QuickBooks provides a wholistic tutorial on how to set up and process payroll. The basic steps involve entering payroll setup information, adding employee information, entering a pay schedule, including the hourly wage per employee and filling out deductions. Once you've added all this information, you can choose how each employee will be paid. The benefit of using QuickBooks for payroll is that once this information is added, you won't have to add it again. You can run payroll each pay period, and the software stores your information for future use. Choosing a payroll providerEven if your company is small, processing payroll can be challenging. It takes time to gather employee information, calculate each employee's gross and net pay, and ensure you're withholding the right amount of money for state and federal taxes each pay period. It also takes a lot of time and effort to track payroll records in an organized and efficient way. If you're a small business owner with several employees, it may be best to invest in a payroll provider that can help you manage this whole process. Payroll providers take the legwork out of paying your employees. Many also have employee access portals, so your workers can log in to view pay stubs, track deductions and make tax adjustments when necessary. Processing payroll manually may make sense if you have a very small business with only a few employees, and feel confident in your ability to correctly calculate pay, deductions and allowances. If you run a rapidly growing and dynamic small business, it's likely best to partner with a payroll provider. Most companies charge either a monthly fee or take a small percentage of your total payroll. There are several flexible options from a contract and term perspective, so you can find the solution and platform that makes the most sense for your business. |
| How To Collect Quality Feedback From Your Customers Posted: 02 Oct 2019 05:00 AM PDT  If your e-commerce business has trouble collecting feedback from your customers, then it's time to create new ways for your audience to reach out to your brand and spill the tea. Customer feedback is crucial for your business's success. Without it, it's impossible to know where customers stand with your brand, how they feel about its products and services and what you can do to better cater to their needs. Around 70% of buying experiences are based on how the customer feels a business treats them, which is impossible to know without direct feedback. Collecting user feedback isn't optional; it's a must. Critiques from your audience are crucial to diagnose and fix issues head-on. Expanding your brand is all about the customer experience. If they aren't happy, they won't come back, and you'll fail to sustain your business. Feedback from customers tells you what to focus on so you can refine your strategy and make it better. As a result, you'll increase your conversions, generate sales and nurture leads through the sales funnel. Customer support is crucial for any business, and when you provide customers with solutions, it builds brand loyalty. Collecting feedback lets you better provide for your customers by personalizing the experience and taking their thoughts into account. If someone takes time out of their day to tell your business how it can improve, use it to your advantage by becoming even better. Use the positive feedback you receive to display it as social proof on your website, on social media and in email campaigns. When new visitors see that customers already use and enjoy your products and services, it convinces them to do the same. Among the ways you can collect valuable feedback from your customers include:
Here are more details on each strategy: 1. Know what to askOnly ask questions you need answers to. Don't bother adding fluff or irrelevant questions in your forms and surveys as they serve no purpose and waste time and space. You'll find yourself sorting through feedback and ignoring most of the responses because they don't add value to your marketing objectives. Ask open-ended questions that garner longer, detailed responses. Perhaps you need to sprinkle a few "yes" or "no" questions into the mix, but a majority should be open for longer answers. This gives you a more in-depth understanding into the minds of your customers and helps you better understand what works for them and what doesn't. Keep your feedback forms and surveys short. No one wants to fill out a 15-minute survey just for the sake of it. You need to make it as easy as possible for users to provide answers and send them your way, so keep the questions to a minimum. Think about what you really want feedback on, whether that's your support team, product quality, or another element. 2. Create a popup surveyYou can send a popup survey to customers on your website who recently bought a product or service. This helps you collect feedback shortly after purchase for more accurate, timely results. You can display it to returning visitors or trigger your campaign to popup after users have engaged with one or two webpages on your site. Popup surveys are valuable for several reasons:
If you think it'll be difficult to garner enough feedback, you can incentivize the survey with a lead magnet. That way, users know they'll receive something after filling out the form, and you can gather the information you need. 3. Leverage live chat supportLive chat is a valuable customer service tool your business can use to get the opinions of visitors quickly and easily. Regular surveys and questions asked through emails take time to garner responses, but live chat starts an ongoing, immediate conversation between your brand and its customers. Live chat can increase your e-commerce conversion rate 11 times higher when executed properly. On top of that, consumers want a better customer service experience from brands they do business with. A whopping 89% of consumers say they've switched to a competitor after experiencing poor customer service. This could happen to your customers too if you don't cater to their needs. Include live chat features on pages of your website that gain the most traction, such as the homepage, product pages, pricing pages and checkout pages. When customers reach these points on your website, they have the most questions because they're about to hand over their personal information and make a final decision. So, it's crucial to be present for their inquiries. 4. Use a responsive contact formIf you're going to collect feedback from customers, you need to make sure you choose the best contact form plugin for them to use. That means it has the components you need to get closer to achieving your goals. You need a responsive, mobile-friendly contact form that's easy to navigate. Don't ask for a ton of personal information you don't necessarily need. If all you're looking to gain is your audience's thoughts and opinions, it isn't necessary to have them fill out their home address and phone number. More than 67% of site visitors will abandon your form if they encounter complications or interruptions. So, eliminate the number of form fields to increase the form's completion rate and avoid frustrating your customers. Make sure your contact form is also optimized for mobile users so they too can easily answer your questions. Fonts should be easy to read and all content should be skimmable. It should be simple to navigate your forms and enter information. If the content displayed on users' tablets or mobile devices isn't formatted correctly, you're sure to miss out on customer feedback. 5. Monitor analyticsPart of collecting feedback is monitoring your website's analytics. It shows you where visitors spend the most time, where they bounce and what content drives them away. You can add and delete information based on how your audience interacts with it, which is why tracking analytics is vital. Consider webpages that gain the most traction, such as landing pages and product pages. Dips in engagement are indicators that you need to refine your conversion strategy and continue collecting feedback. Pay attention to these elements of your analytics so you can track and monitor their progress:
Garnering valuable feedback from your customers is essential for your business to thrive and grow customer loyalty. It shows your audience you care about providing a smooth purchasing process and tending to their issues. It also helps you use better tactics and techniques that cater to customer needs and grow your business. |
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